Recent Accounting Pronouncements (Policies)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2012

Recent Accounting Pronouncements [Abstract]

Financial Instruments

Long-term investments included the mutual fund assets the Company held at the reporting dates to fund a portion of its deferred compensation liabilities and all of its non-qualified supplemental executive defined contribution obligations (see the defined contribution plans section of Note 8). Fair value and carrying value were the same because the mutual fund assets were recorded at fair value in accordance with the fair value option rules set forth in the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Accounting Standards Codification (ASC) Topic 825, Financial Instruments. Fair values for the mutual funds were calculated using the published market price per unit at the reporting date multiplied by the number of units held at the reporting date. See the table that follows these financial instrument descriptions for the reported fair value of long-term investments.

Fair Value Measurement

In May 2011, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update (ASU) No. 2011-04, Fair Value Measurement (Topic 820): Amendments to Achieve Common Fair Value Measurement and Disclosure Requirements in U.S. GAAP and IFRSs. The amendments result in common fair value measurement and disclosure requirements in U.S. GAAP and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRSs), and do not require additional fair value measurements and are not intended to establish valuation standards or affect valuation practices. The amendments in this update are effective during interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2011. Adoption of the new requirement did not have an effect on the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

Comprehensive Income

In June 2011, the FASB issued ASU No. 2011-05, Comprehensive Income (Topic 220): Presentation of Comprehensive Income. In this update, FASB eliminated the option to present components of other comprehensive income as part of the statement of changes in stockholders’ equity. The amendments require that all non-owner changes in equity be presented either in a single continuous statement of comprehensive income or in two separate but consecutive statements. The amendments in this update are effective for fiscal years, and interim periods within these years, beginning after December 15, 2011. This date does not apply to the requirement for the presentation of reclassifications of items out of other comprehensive income to net income. This requirement has been deferred indefinitely by ASU No. 2011-12, Deferral of the Effective Date for Amendments to the Presentation of Reclassifications of Items Out of Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income in Accounting Standards Update No. 2011-05. Although adoption of the new requirement had an effect on the Company’s presentation of comprehensive income, it did not have an effect on the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

Goodwill for Impairment

In September 2011, the FASB issued ASU No. 2011-08, Intangibles – Goodwill and Other (Topic 350): Testing Goodwill for Impairment, which amends the guidance on testing goodwill for impairment. The new standard provides entities that are testing goodwill for impairment the option of performing a qualitative assessment before calculating the fair value of the reporting unit (i.e., step 1 of the goodwill impairment test). If an entity determines, on the basis of the qualitative assessment, that the fair value of the reporting unit is more likely than not (i.e., a likelihood of greater than 50 percent) less than the reporting unit’s carrying amount, the traditional two-step impairment test would be required. The ASU does not change how goodwill is calculated or assigned to reporting units, nor does it revise the requirement to test goodwill annually for impairment. Furthermore, the ASU does not amend the requirement to test goodwill for impairment between annual tests if events or circumstances warrant. The amendments are effective for annual and interim goodwill impairment tests performed for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2011. The Company did not employ the qualitative assessment made available by this update for the Company’s 2012 annual goodwill impairment testing. Application of the option provided in this update did not have an effect on the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets for Impairment

In July 2012, the FASB issued ASU No. 2012-02, Intangibles – Goodwill and Other (Topic 350): Testing Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets for Impairment. The amendments in this update aim to simplify the impairment test for indefinite-lived intangible assets by permitting an entity the option to first to assess qualitative factors to determine whether it is more likely than not (defined as having a likelihood of more than 50 percent) that an indefinite-lived intangible asset is impaired as a basis for determining whether the quantitative impairment test included in Accounting Standards Codification Subtopic 350-30, Intangibles—Goodwill and Other—General Intangibles Other than Goodwill must be performed. The amendment is effective for annual and interim impairment tests performed for fiscal years beginning after September 15, 2012. The Company currently has no indefinite-lived intangible assets other than goodwill reported on its consolidated balance sheet. As such, adoption of this amendment is not expected to have an effect on the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

Offsetting Assets and Liabilities

In December 2011, the FASB issued ASU No. 2011-11, Disclosures about Offsetting Assets and Liabilities. This update creates new disclosure requirements about the nature of an entity’s rights of setoff and related arrangements associated with its financial and derivative instruments. Entities are required to apply the new disclosure requirements for annual and interim reporting periods beginning on or after January 1, 2013. Retrospective application is required. Adoption of the new requirement will not have an effect on the Company’s financial position, results of operations or cash flows.